LEXINGTON MIGHT GET CIVIL WAR MUSEUM

Date: January25,2024 Section: VIRGINIA Page: A1

By Todd Jackson todd.jackson@roanoke.com981-3253

The largest collection of Confederate Civil War memorabilia in the world could relocate to history-rich Lexington, which has leaders there considering the upside of such a move.

The Museum of the Confederacy, now in cramped quarters in downtown Richmond amid Virginia Commonwealth University's medical campus, is looking for a new home. The museum's president and chief executive officer, Waite Rawls, said Wednesday that one of the possibilities being considered is a 140-mile relocation west to Lexington. "It is a viable option," said Rawls, a graduate of Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.

But Rawls also emphasized that there are other options, which include the museum staying in Richmond. Rawls, as well as Lexington and Rockbridge County officials, were quick to say that their talks are only in the preliminary stages.

But they've gone far enough that Lexington and Rockbridge leaders issued a joint statement about the situation, based on a visit this month by museum officials. The museum delegation toured a possible relocation site, the historic Rockbridge County Courthouse complex on Main Street. That complex is being replaced by a new courthouse on which construction is to begin soon.

In a joint statement, Rockbridge Board of Supervisors Chairman Harvey Hottinger and Lexington Mayor John Knapp said a renovated historic courthouse complex, which includes several buildings, may provide a creative and attractive reuse if the museum is relocated there.

"With its world-class collection, its library, its exhibits and education programs and the visitors and researchers it draws, we wanted to explore the possibilities of a move by the museum to Lexington," the two men said in the statement. "The mission of the museum is consistent with the historic attractions and educational institutions already in our community."

Said Rawls: "Lexington has a problem/opportunity, and we have a problem/opportunity."

Estimated to be worth more than $500 million, the artifacts and memorabilia at the museum include Robert E. Lee's sword and a Bible used by Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

But in addition to that obvious attraction, Rawls said there's another important facet to a potential move to Lexington: The museum's educational and research programs could match up well with VMI and nearby Washington and Lee University. The relationships could create a strong academic component based not only on Civil War history, but overall military history as well as Virginia history.

"There are natural tie-ins to this area," Jean Clark, director of tourism for Lexington-Rockbridge, said of the potential move. "It would fit in many ways."

In addition to the established histories of VMI and Washington and Lee, Lexington also has the Lee Chapel and Museum, where Lee is buried, as well as the Stonewall Jackson House, where Jackson lived while he was a professor at VMI before the war. Jackson, killed by friendly fire at Chancellorsville in 1863, is buried in Lexington.

The current site of the Museum of the Confederacy, established in 1896, includes the White House of the Confederacy. That historic dwelling will remain in Richmond, where it has stood since 1818, according to the joint Lexington-Rockbridge statement.

Rawls said the museum's board has not set a specific timetable to make a relocation decision, but he said it does want to be in a new home by 2024, the beginning of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

The museum gets about 50,000 visitors a year, with the majority coming from outside Virginia.

But it has struggled financially with declining visitation and has had staff, programming and hours reductions over the past several years. In October, the museum's trustees adopted the recommendation of a panel of outside experts and agreed to keep the collection together but to move it to a better location in order for the museum to survive. The trustees also agreed that the White House of the Confederacy would not be moved from its location at 1201 E. Clay St.

See video from a Lexington parade marking Robert E. Lee's birthday at roanoke.com.Museum of the Confederacy

The museum is located in the midst of Virginia Commonwealth University's medical campus in downtown Richmond and is adjacent to the White House of the Confederacy, where Confederate President Jefferson Davis lived during the Civil War.

Hemmed in by the burgeoning medical campus, the museum has had a long-term decline in visitation and has struggled financially. Last year it requested $700,000 in state funding to cover its operating deficit and to pay for an independent study; the General Assembly granted the museum $50,000.

On the Net: www.moc.org